When reviewing our website with a critical eye it’s important to know who we are hearing from and that their voices represent targeted, yet diverse and willing members. Active participation is a crucial factor. The feedback needs to come from people that have used the site! The Scavenger Hunt was an effort to gather active Member participation and yet it has been not as successful as the web team had hoped. Most of the feedback we currently get has been hearsay and from the same few voices.

Research

Despite the explosion of social media in the last five years, the 1% rule first identified by research in the early 1990’s (website research) still holds true:

1% of people create content

9% edit or modify that content, and

90% view the content without contributing (called lurkers)

New research has demonstrated that Community-based Websites tend to buck this trend:

Shifting from writing paper documents to digital media is the subject of this third series Writing for the Web. Writing well is not only about words anymore but has become more about structure. Once hundreds of files or documents are created we need to give an assist to our viewers so they can:

Glean the messages we are sending and

Find what information they are looking for

Achieve success almost immediately

Example:

When creating a tournament or game for your Chapter:

Write an article for the newsletter AND Website

Use the announcement feature

Use the site registration description area

Use the glossary and links for detailed descriptions of the rules of the game (add this if it is not available)

Don’t stray off with extraneous details in your article that loses readership

As business professionals, we often confuse volunteer work with busy work. We talk ourselves into thinking that our workloads prohibit extra, non-work related activities. As professionals looking to add to your business related work skills, this could not be further from the truth.

As technology advances and social structures shift, the global marketplace becomes a rapidly evolving workplace that requires new forms of collaboration and productivity tools. The ability to collaborate online, learn critical virtual communication skills, post to online discussions, are learned through time and experience. Experts in future forecasting along with visionaries from diverse industries are shedding light on the rapid changing nature of work and work place skill sets:

Technological and social developments are creating new forms of work

Employers will require workers with new skills and knowledge for jobs that do not yet exist

It's all about paying it forward. On Sunday evening, an 8 year old girl shared her feelings about the game of golf at the World Golf Hall of Fame in St. Augustine, FL as part of the 8th annual EWGA Foundation Fundraiser to support LPGA-USGA Girls Golf. She shared softly, "It's fun. I really like it."

Accompanied by her very proud grandfather to the event, this adorable youngster from the Jacksonville,FL LPGA-USGA Girls Golf program charmed everyone as she lit up the room when asked how she likes playing golf. She really enjoys learning how to play, the rules and what's right and wrong (and her grandfather mentioned she's helped him with the rules as well....) Enabling her to meet LPGA Tour Players, like Julieta Granada who was with us that evening, was a great experience and an unforgettable one!

Providing tools to young girls through the sport of golf is the right thing for the EWGA to do. The EWGA has been serving as mentors to young girls through LPGA-USGA Girls Golf for nearly a decade and the fundraising element is the by-product.

Where would we be without Billie Jean King? Trailblazers such as Donna De Varona? Ann Meyers? That group helped spawn a modern generation of empowered athletes – gold medal winners such as Dot Richardson, Brandi Chastain and Julie Foudy, Kerri Strug and Lindsay Davenport. How about Pat Summitt receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom? Golfers like Dottie Pepper, Annika Sorenstam and Michelle Wie?

Today because of the gender equality enforced by Title IX legislation, career choices for women are varied and plentiful and athletic opportunities are significantly improved. Young girls now have role models: lawyers, doctors, engineers, architects, CEOs, astronauts and athletes. They can dream big dreams with the potential of making those dreams come true. The picture was a bit different just 40 years ago.

For the second year, the EWGA Foundation has designated two PGA of America-inspired golf programs for its own ‘Drive for Dreams’ campaign … an opportunity for EWGA members to share their good fortune with those in need.

Salute Military Golf Association (SMGA) and Golf for Injured Veterans Everywhere (GIVE) are giving the gift of golf, its rehabilitative aspects, and the wonderful and needed sense of fun and normalcy to men and women who have returned from war to fight a new battle … a battle to resume their lives from an altered state … and a battle that we the citizens for whom they stood in harm’s way owe our greatest effort to support.

The SMGA was founded in 2004 by PGA Teaching Professional Jim Estes at Olney Golf Park in Olney, MD. Begun as a therapeutic outlet for soldiers undergoing prolonged medical treatment at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and Bethesda Naval Hospital, SMGA’s mission is to provide rehabilitative golf experiences for combat-wounded war veterans in an effort to improve the quality of life for these American heroes. Through donations, the SMGA provides golf lessons, equipment, and playing opportunities for combat-wounded soldiers injured in Iraq or Afghanistan. To date, the SMGA has equipped more than 250 soldiers with properly fitted clubs, offered free lessons and range balls to more than 600 combat-wounded soldiers, and enabled the rehabilitative benefits of golf to improve the mental and physical condition of every soldier who has participated.

If you are like me, you are a fan of Yardage Books and what they provide, but find that most books are such a disappointment. They not only lack critical information but they are focused on the Men’s golf game, NOT the women’s golf game. What I want, besides previous course experience; is a REAL yardage book. You can purchase the books the Pro’s use for many coursed but I’m looking for one that Women Amateur golfers could use with local knowledge and options like: “take it up the left side to be safe or risk the over the lake shot for long hitters”; or Approach this green from the left side of the fairway—mounds protect the right side of the green.’’

We don’t need fancy color simulated photo graphics (you can’t write notes on them). I want line diagrams in black and white or minor color with empty areas on each page to add notes. I also require a large area to map the curvatures and slope of the greens.

Many of us play the same course all the time or the course is so sedate (wide and or flat) that a yardage book does not make much sense. However, many of us like to play a variety of courses and tournaments. Sometimes we may repeat the same course a few times in one year or we do not know if we will ever be back, so making your own is not worth it. When the course you are playing is part of a tournament then a practice round can be used to create a golf aid that is legal, widely used and of great help!

With the complexity of work life, social media is frequently over looked as a communication tool. The integration of social tools into our EWGA communication strategies has become critical for nearly everyone and can yield tremendous and unexpected benefits. A blended scenario of traditional and unstructured approaches to membership communication can greatly affect the relevance, retention, and overall success or failure of our communication initiatives.

With individual’s short attention spans and the number of mobile devices and video’s, communication between organizations will not be anything like the old single event PowerPoint presentations. Location is of secondary importance, as anyone can meet anywhere, any time through our website. Meetings and discussions do not need to be single events but can result from a series of relationship-building opportunities held within the social media space and the tools available: discussion boards and blogs; Facebook and Twitter.

The key to communications success is to blend the various social media technologies into a coherent strategy, using each for its unique abilities to communicate, build story and community rather than as a replacement for email. League coordinators’ could start twitter accounts for participants so that last minute work schedules changes could open opportunities for replacement players. Weekend events could help arrange car pools and member engagement opportunities. Suzy and Deb successfully used an eGroup (a website tool) to help manage the Match Play ladder last year (great effort).

Both my mother and father are left-handed and so was I born left-handed. At a very young age they switched me because they thought being left handed would be a disadvantage. Desks would not fit, lunch table seating could be awkward and many other issues that they both experienced in their lifetimes would present disadvantages to me throughout my life. So I was switched from being left-handed to being right-handed. In grade school sports it was a great advantage to me. I was a switch hitter in softball/baseball, in basketball I could go to the hoop from either side and dribble both ways. If seated next to a lefty I can also dine lefty. I have not viewed this as nothing but an advantage my entire life.

I have also always been an excellent athlete but one that needed lots of practice and warm-up. I can also be somewhat clumsy and awkward physically unless I had an objective and challenge! I bump into coffee tables, trip over small ledges and I seem to always mentally be trying to catch up with my body. Yet, I am blessed with an athlete’s mind and when I can align the physical and mental it is powerful. I can achieve and perform amazing athletic skills. But practice and training is always needed for this alignment to happen.

Most people know that when they address email using the TO: (default) they are creating a new message. However, they are less sure about the two other options: CC: (carbon copy) and BCC: (blind carbon copy). If you are sending the message to only one address then the TO: option should be used.

Winter is a great time to get (or stay!) in shape for golf! I've joined the national online 30-day Cardiogolf workout, and so far (day 1) it's great. But anything you can do during the winter will help you feel better, stay flexible, increase your strength and power, and get you ready for the demands of golf come Spring. Yoga is a great way to increase your flexibility; skiing and snowshoeing build your strength, power, and stamina; and running or walking improves your endurance. While it's tempting to become a total couch potato during the winter, remember that Spring isn't far away, and get moving!

Match Play is one of the oldest forms of competition in golf. It pits players one against another, rather than one against the field as in stroke play. Opponents compete to win individual holes, and the player(s) who wins the most holes wins the match.

Match play can be played by two individuals, one on one, and that is known as Singles Match Play. Or teams of two players can square off, with Foursomes and Fourball the most common formats for team play.

As an EWGA Portland member you have several great opportunities to participate in these games. Portland Chapter has a match play ladder league where we play Singles (one player against another) with others in our Chapter. We also have teams forming to participate in Fourball and Singles competition on a Regional basis against other Chapters. The final opportunity is (closed at this point) is Women’s Interclub Play launched this year by the Oregon Golf Association. Our EWGA Portland Chapter plays against other Greater Portland Area women’s golf clubs. Next Year this WIP will be statewide and expand.

Splendid scenery. Bubba. Padraig. Keegan. Webb. Spectacular golf. Bermudian Hospitality. Fabulous Sunshine. And new beginnings for EWGA in Bermuda. The 30th PGA Grand Slam of Golf offered the backdrop for all of this and so much more.

Just last week 24 U.S. EWGA members traveled to the island of Bermuda for an EWGA On Course event at the PGA Grand Slam of Golf. The action packed agenda included a welcome reception hosted by the Bermuda Department of Tourism under the direction of the Honorable Wayne Furbert, Minister of Business Development and Tourism for the island at an oceanfront location that left one breathless by the captivating scenery. That was just the beginning of our five day visit which also included golf at Port Royal Golf Club where the PGA Grand Slam was played, meeting many of the EWGA-Bermuda members who are so excited and energized to be a part of the EWGA (Kudos to their leadership team who have set the record for being the fastest growing EWGA Chapter with over 100 members in just six short weeks!); watching the four champions up close for two days on the course demonstrate why they are the best of the best and having the opportunity to attend the Champions Dinner where each Champion shared insights into their lives which was very special. And did I mention that I played in the Pro Am and was paired with Keegan Bradley for 6 holes! A memory that will last a lifetime.

A quick and easy way to drop a few strokes on your score includes re-gripping your golf clubs. When I give golf lessons, this is one of the first things I evaluate - the student's grips - as they reveal wear patterns from holding the club incorrectly or with too much pressure.
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How do you know if you need new grips? If they are slippery or appear worn, it's time to get new grips. Slippery grips require you to hold the club with more pressure and thus interferes with making a good golf swing. A general rule of thumb is to re-grip your clubs once a year.

We had a great day yesterday on the golf course, but it won't be long until the heat sets in. Start getting ready today. Refresh the stock in your bag: sunscreen, cooling towels, baggies for clean ice or to keep your cooling towel wet, lip balm, hair implements (barrettes, bands, etc) and an extra hat or visor.

Other suggestions: Be sure to buy water before you leave the clubhouse. And although it seems counter-intuitive, think about long sleeves. There are plenty of new solutions for protecting you from the suns harmful rays.

Plan now to check in with your playing partners throughout the round to make sure everyone is aware of each other and how they are keeping up with the heat. We're glad to be welcoming new players from the upper Midwest and other areas of the country not used to triple digit playing conditions.

Be sure to park in the shade as often as possible if you're driving the cart. If you can't find shade, try to position the cart so the sun isn't beating down on the occupants.